Another N.Y. dairy suffers devastating loss from fire

Owners of the John Garvin dairy farm near Rutland, N.Y., are cleaning up what’s left of their dairy following a devastating fire that killed nearly 90 cows.

The blaze had almost fully engulfed the barn by the time it was discovered early Wednesday morning, leaving time to save just one cow, according to the Watertown Daily Times.

Your News Now reports that by the time fire crews reached the scene, the barn had already collapsed. Officials say that the fire had been burning for at least five hours before being discovered. Fire units from six area towns responded and remained at the location for several hours.

"The only thing I'd say was unusual is that went so long without being noticed. I mean, it was the middle of the night but normally there's a car somewhere going around. It's just unfortunate that we didn't get a call earlier,” Chief Jery Kirch, of Rutland Fire Department, told reporters.

The cause of the fire was still under investigation, but officials suspect spontaneous combustion in an area of the barn where chopped hay was stored.

This fire marked the second one this week for New York dairies. On Monday a fire ripped through a dairy in Franklin, killing dozens of cows and calves and destroying the century-old farm. Read more here.

The August issue of Dairy Herd Management included advice to minimize the potential of barn fires. Read about it here.